This book was first published in 1988. It looks at the history of OPEC, and the political and economic events that have shaped the organisation and the world economy since its creation in 1960. It covers the background to its establishment, the years in which it struggled to find a role, and the critical years of 1970–73 which revolutionised attitudes and structures in the oil industry. It deals with the success and failure of OPEC as an international player in the post-1973 period, and the effect of the Iranian revolution and the Iran–Iraq war on the organisation, and its efforts to run a cartel in the 1980s. A final chapter looks at post-1985 OPEC and its expectations for the immediate future.